The first to admit he’s a historian not a scientist, Jay Barnes’ interest in hurricanes is almost as formidable as the storms he writes about. In fact, Barnes, who is director of the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knolls Shores, is so knowledgeable on the subject that he is a sought-after guest on national news media like The Weather Channel, the Discovery Chanel, MSNBC, and NBC Nightly News.”I’m just a southern boy who grew up at the beach in Southport,” said Barnes, who spoke at the annual dinner of Campbell University’s Friends of the Library on Sept. 28. “I heard many stories about the destruction caused by Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and was fascinated by these stories, but I developed a stronger interest while creating programs and exhibits on hurricanes for the North Carolina Aquarium in the early 1980s.”Barnes’ interest led to a book about North Carolina hurricanes and then to what he refers to as a “cottage industry” associated with hurricanes.”There were very few books on the history of hurricanes at the time I wrote the first book, ‘North Carolina Hurricane History,'” Barnes said. “But that book created such a stir that I decided to follow it up with ‘Florida’s Hurricane History,’ and ‘Faces from the Flood,’ a book that uses personal stories to examine the catastrophic effects of hurricanes.”A number of hurricanes have made landfall in North Carolina since 1993, Barnes said–some very devastating such as Fran in 1996 and some milder such as Alex in 2004, but residents will be relieved to know that global warming, which has raised the surface temperature of the Atlantic Ocean by two degrees, is not as significant a cause for the increase in hurricanes as the cyclical nature of the storms.Barnes is a graduate of both North Carolina State University and Syracuse University.Campbell University’s Friends of the Library organization was Established in 1971. The purpose of the Friends of the Carrie Rich Memorial Library at Campbell University is to raise money to support the purchase of materials and equipment and to provide financial support for library services. The organization has 125 members. For more information on how to become a member of the Friends of the Library, contact Linda Martin at the Administrative Office of Carrie Rich Memorial Library, at 910.893.1460.Photo Copy: Hurricane expert Jay Barnes, director of the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knolls Shores, addresses members of Campbell University’s Friends of the Library at the annual meeting on Sept. 28.
Barnes stirs up interest in hurricanes at Friends meeting